Anderson Silva News: Fellow Brazilian middleweight 'Jacare' Souza says 'The Spider' should not take rematch against Vitor Belfort
When former long-time middleweight champion Anderson Silva first fought mixed martial arts veteran and former UFC heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort in 2011, it resulted in a highlight reel front kick knock out to the face, in favor of "The Spider".
It has been four years since the said fight, and both men had already taken different career paths, in the process. Silva lost his cloak of invincibility when he was first defeated by Chris Weidman in July 2013, and was further pushed out of the limelight when he failed to get the title five months later in their rematch, which even resulted to him breaking his leg.
Silva did emerge victorious against welterweight title contender Nick Diaz at UFC 183 in January, but was eventually suspended for a year after testing positive for anabolic steroids after the fight.
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Belfort, on the other hand, won six of his last eight fights since facing Silva, and has fought for a UFC title twice. His most recent bout was against fellow MMA veteran Dan Henderson early this month, where he scored a first round stoppage.
UFC President Dana White did make an announcement regarding a possible rematch between Silva and Belfort. A follow-up report by BloodyElbow.com says the fight has been booked for UFC 197 in March 2016.
While some MMA fans would entertain the idea of pitting the two Brazilian legends together, Silva's own teammate and fellow UFC middleweight Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza is not a fan of the idea. In a report by MMA Fighting, Souza explained his apprehensions on the said match-up.
"Anderson is impressive, but, in my opinion, as a friend and seeing him as guy that is helping me now, I think he should fight again before fighting Belfort to get his rhythm back."
"Belfort is in a strong rhythm now, he fought three times in a row now," he added. "Anderson spent some time off, had this issue now and spent a year off, so I think Anderson should fight again first."
Souza is scheduled to face middleweight top contender Yoel Romero at UFC 194 on December 12th in Las Vegas.
